


It Should Have Ended There

by MrSpears



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Emotional, Gen, Reapers, Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-06
Updated: 2016-06-06
Packaged: 2018-07-12 17:53:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7116571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrSpears/pseuds/MrSpears
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Why did you save me? </p>
<p>Story fragment about the day Will became a reaper.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It Should Have Ended There

The river growled underneath his feet. William looked down from his place on the bridge, shifting his weight so that the wooden boards creaked underneath his heels. He felt that if he could lean back far enough, momentum shifting forward would just pitch him into the water. He had done it once before. He had filled his pockets with stones and let the frothy water close over his head. He had opened his mouth and swallowed enough murky brine to fill his stomach and sink him down to the gritty bottom. The last thing he had seen before the darkness became absolute was a glimmer of sunlight on the choppy surface, the whole world blissfully unaware of the existence of such all-consuming, overwhelming misery. 

It should have ended there. 

Then the hand pulled him from the river. 

“Don’t tell me you did that on purpose.” The voice above his head was startling and strange. It sounded like it was teetering on the verge of mania, one bad joke away from a crippling fit of laughter. 

William coughed, his shoulders lurching forward as he vomited water onto the muddy bank. It gushed from his nose and spewed from his split, severe lips. 

“Why did you save me?” he growled, his teeth squeaking as he ground them together. His stomach was churning. His eyes burned and his fingers were digging into the soft, squelching mud. The very sensation was enough to make him feel like he was going throw up all over again. 

“Dear boy,” the voice softened just a touch, and slithered out more akin to a giggle. “I couldn’t save you. You are right where you wish to be, on the other side.” 

William looked around. It still looked like London. He turned his head to glance up at the face of his ‘angel’. 

A tall man, several inches over six feet, loomed over his fallen form. William’s vision was still a little blurred, but he could make out long silver hair and blazing green eyes interrupted only by a stark ring of yellow around the pupils. 

“You are not making any sense.” William said. 

“I suppose nothing makes sense after taking a tumble from that height. You might have knocked your head.” The tall man grinned. “Do you want my name, or what they call me?” 

“What do they call you?” 

“Undertaker. A fitting title for a Grim Reaper, yes?” he held a slender hand in front of his mouth, long fingers curling over his chin as if fighting back a cackle. “A suitable profession, as well. Perhaps I might even take it on one day.” 

William felt like an icy hand had plunged through his chest and taken hold of his heart. His entire body ached, cold stiffness settling into his joints and making them burn. 

“So…” he croaked. “That is what they call you. What then, is your name?” 

“Edward.” The reaper cocked his head. “I assume you bear an equally dull agnomen?” 

“William.” He finally felt like he was able to push himself up onto his knees. The Undertaker’s eyes followed him, a long black fingernail playing with a scarred bottom lip. 

“Am I really dead?” William looked down at his hands. They were so pale he could see his stark blue veins pulsing underneath the thin surface. 

“You have been given new life.” The Undertaker said. “No one ever really dies.” 

William shook his head slowly, strands of his wet black hair clinging to his clammy face and neck. “I don’t want to do it all again.” He whispered. 

“I never said you had to do that.” Undertaker grinned. “The things you will do you could never have even imagined. I can’t say it is better…but it is a great deal more fun.” 

A pregnant pause settled between them. William slicked his hair away from his forehead and looked up, a droplet of dirty water skating down his regal nose and beading on the tip. 

“I am going to regret this, aren’t I?” 

“Not at all.” The Undertaker extended a hand. “It has been far too long in coming.” 

William regarded the hand for a long minute before accepting it, gripping the fingers with his own, heated strength suddenly surging up his arm. There was a sharp, stabbing pain in his eyes – tears welled up with blood, streaking down his cheeks and leaving burning hot trails. 

“Moving on is never easy,” the Undertaker whispered. “If it was, we would all be reapers.” 

“Close your eyes, take the plunge.” William pulled himself up to his feet, still holding onto the Undertaker’s hand. “Only few are so foolish.”

The Undertaker pulled William closer to his chest. The young reaper barely came up to his neck. The Undertaker hunched over, pressing his lips close to William’s ear. 

“Perhaps so. But we are divine fools, you and I. And now we move between Heaven and Hell, neutral to God and all that is below. Tell me, did you dare dream of that, when you closed your eyes forever?”


End file.
